Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Burger King Sponge Bob and Sir Mix A Lot Roll the Dice

and figure they can stand the heat of those opposed to Burger King's latest commercial starring Sponge Bob Square Pants and Sir Mix-a-Lot.Recently those cutting edge heart attack cats at Burger King rolled out a new commercial aimed at children. The commercial revamps Anthony Ray's, a.k.a Sir Mix-a-Lot Grammy award winning single "Baby Got Back," from the Album Mack Daddy recorded on American Recordings.This commercial which has aired as early as 6:00pm in many areas of the country is fun until you pay attention. The original "Baby Got Back" lyrics say "Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!) Shake that healthy butt!" apparently "Mix-a-Lot's in trouble Beggin' for a piece of that bubble," and he reports "My anaconda don't want none Unless you've got buns, hun." Hmmm. This reptile butt thing sounds a bit kinky. Oh it's a metaphor! Got it.Well in the Burger King version the ladies certainly shake it and true to Rap video values they get it measured and shake it some more. Burger King reports that they intend this commercial for adults who take their families to Burger King and that it is not being aired during children's shows. Thank goodness for small favors but what makes them think adults want a healthy dose of he-man female objectification without prior notice?! Whatever makes them think that seems to be correct because few adult moms and dads I've talked to are shocked at anything other than my raised eyebrow and many don't mind if their kids see it.Well I think I'm about to yank my TV basic cable out and go rent CSI and whatever else I occasionally watch for my sake and my daughter's sake. I make sure she stays to Disney, Nickelodeon, Animal Planet and the like which are sometimes questionable unless she's watching sports with me which is where we were first introduced to the BK Sponge Bob Sir Mix-a-Lot alliance. I had no warning this commercial was queued up. I was so shocked it was one of the few times I missed a discussion of content op with my kid. I mean come on isn't that BK guy just a little creepy?Is the content just playful fun? I think Mix-a-Lots rap promo and commentary at the end of the commercial says it best, "...a square butt with sharp angles underwater we keep it grungy cuz everybody know he spongeynow spongebob i want to get with cha cuz you makin me richaburger king wants me to seal the the deal 99 cents get a toy and a kids meal,"and then his commentary,"Booty is Booty."

Well said Sir well said. Here are the entire lyrics from the commercial (the full video can be found on youtube so put your kids in check)and the commercial.

Lyrics

I like square butts and I cannot lie,Squid and Sea Star can’t deny.When a sponge walks in, four corners in his pants,like he got phone book implants,the crowd shouts, all the ladies stare.Man those pants are square!Swinging through the seaweed tanglesis a butt with sharp right angles.Now, SpongeBob,I wanna get with ya,‘cause you’re making me richer.Burger King wants me to seal the deal:99 cents get a toy and a kids meal.

Your Host

Cavana Faithwalker was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Much of his
worldview and values have been molded by his Blackness bestowed upon him in a
working class Black, urban neighborhood. He blames his packrat tendencies, the
economy in his art and poetry on being raised by an Alabama, depression baby
momma who was raised on a farm with her nine brothers and sisters. "She is
probably the reason I fight consumerism gone amuck and the overly me-ish
influence of our society," says Cavana.

His fascination with mechanical things, physics, his aesthetics,
his sense of humor and how things relate to each other comes from construction
worker dad and others.

He has a degree in public art marketing and management from
Cleveland State University. His major is composed of Urban Studies, Studio Art and Marketing.

He says his “new best friend” now is Amit Goswami a quantum
physicist turned spiritual guru and quantum activist. " I
think something is happening worldwide as far as spiritual consciousness.
For me after almost a quarter century of mainstream and somewhat
fundamentalist Christian dogma and orthodoxy, that whole thing is giving in to a new interpretation of what
the canon says and also what is myth and what is ‘reality.’

When it comes to orthodoxy and dogma I
rather like an adage attributed to Zen Buddhism, ‘when you meet the Buddha in
the road, kill the Buddha.’"

Cavana believes in congruency. “The more you can be in sync with your
authentic self the healthier you are and the more life you bring to the things
you do, yeah congruency.” He aims
at being content in life and enjoying life. His mantra is breathe in breathe out. “Through meditating when I play my didgeridoo
I may have zeroed in on the one thing that won’t change in my world view, it
may be the constancy that anchors me, the lessons in science, those
metaphysical concepts beyond the science of plant animal relationships
surrounding oxygen are powerful. A natural outcome of this mantra is thinking
win-win, big picture, and yin yang.

Perhaps when you gravitate to something or are in accord with something it was meant to be that revelations come through it.I learned to play the didjeridoo in 30 minutes, ‘circular’ breathing and how to make sounds.Many play along time without learning ‘circular breathing’ but it just seemed like the thing to do."

Cavana is a visual and performance artists, he sings and plays
didjeridu and is aiming at attaining some level of expertise at throat singing
also know as overtone singing.

Cavana was the Poet Laureate for the City of Cleveland Heights,
Ohio from 2011-2013.

"Muhammed Ali got me into poetry with his prose and antics in the
70s," Faithwalker says. "I would write prose poetry and recite
them for fellow students in high school." He won his first poetry
contest while in high school.

Today Cavana puts himself in the activist 'box'. "A lot of folks don't like labels but we are hardwired to label and pre judge. I read this sign that said activism is the rent for living on this planet, or something like that. I like that but even more so we are all activists if we become aware and congruent. We naturally care, compassion, and get involved and wear off on those that have been beat up too much to care and get involved - empowerment. When we get too beat up someone re empowers us. Romantic view I know and I try to live into it.